BILL NUMBER: SCR 56	CHAPTERED  04/10/00

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER   42
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   APRIL 10, 2000
	ADOPTED IN SENATE   APRIL 3, 2000
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY   MARCH 23, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MARCH 9, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JANUARY 24, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Johannessen

                        JANUARY 11, 2000

   Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 56--Relative to the 50th
anniversary of the start of the Korean War.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 56, Johannessen.  50th anniversary of the start of the Korean
War.
   This measure would commemorate the 50th anniversary of the start
of the Korean War.




   WHEREAS, June 25, 2000, marks the 50th anniversary of the invasion
of South Korea by North Korea and the start of the three-year Korean
War; and
   WHEREAS, In this war there were 54,246 United States military
personnel killed, 103,284 United States military personnel wounded,
and 8,177 United States military personnel taken prisoner of war or
reported missing in action; and
   WHEREAS, On June 27, 1950, President Truman ordered United States
air and naval forces to help defend South Korea and the United
Nations asked member nations to aid South Korea; and
   WHEREAS, On June 30, 1950, President Truman ordered United States
ground troops to South Korea and General Douglas MacArthur was
assigned as the commander of the United Nations Forces; and
   WHEREAS, On September 15, 1950, in a surprise move that
dramatically changed the course of the Korean War, United States
Marines and soldiers of the United States 10th Corps made a
successful amphibious landing at the port of Inchon, the first
amphibious landing against a hostile beachhead since the invasion of
Okinawa in April 1945, during World War II; and
   WHEREAS, In December 1950, when the First Marine Division was
attacked by a numerically superior Chinese Communist army in the
Chosin Reservoir area of North Korea, it fought valiantly to the port
of Hungnam where military personnel and equipment were evacuated by
the United States Navy.  Under the leadership of Major General O. P.
Smith, United States Marine Corps, the Marines brought out their
dead, their wounded, and most of their combat gear; and
   WHEREAS, The Soviet Union soon began to supply North Korea with
MIG-15 jets, and dogfights became an important part of the war when
as many as 100 to 150 United States F-86 jets and Soviet-built MIG-15
jets fought heated air battles over North Korea; and
   WHEREAS, The United States Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps lost
more than 2,000 planes during the war, and allied fliers destroyed
more than 1,000 Communist planes and killed an estimated 300,000
enemy troops; and
   WHEREAS, The allied naval forces included four battleships, eight
cruisers, 16 aircraft carriers, and 80 destroyers, and the United
States Navy supported land troops by firing at enemy targets and
conducted a two-year siege of Wonsan, a Communist oil refining and
industrial city; and
   WHEREAS, The Korean War ended on July 27, 1953, when the United
Nations and North Korea signed an armistice agreement; and
   WHEREAS, A permanent peace treaty between South Korea and North
Korea has never been signed; and
   WHEREAS, The Korean War is often called "The Forgotten War"
because many of our nation's veterans have been forgotten; and
   WHEREAS, Our nation's Korean War veterans served their country
with honor and dignity and we should remember the legacy of their
courage; and
   WHEREAS, Although the Korean War is termed by some as a "Police
Action," it was in fact a vicious and bloody war for those who fought
it; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby commemorates June 25,
2000, as the 50th anniversary of the start of the Korean War; and be
it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
